Monday, October 28, 2013

The elderly
vendors have until Oct. 31 to vacate the area, or they will be
evicted. In their place, a brand new BOT project will be erected, one that will
be far more ‘esthetically pleasing’ for the thousands of tourists who visit the
area every day

In recent
months, protests outside the Executive Yuan in Taipei — youth and the elderly
in the foreground, a row of police officers with shields as a backdrop — have
become almost as routine as the meetings of Cabinet officials that take place
inside the building.

This morning, it
was the turn of elderly vendors from the touristic spot of Sun Moon Lake to
arrive on a bus, unfurl their banners, placards, and props to draw attention to
their plight. The situation that confronts them is one that has become far too
common in recent times, where society’s most vulnerable are shoved aside in the
name of “progress” and the creation of opportunities for the wealthy to become
wealthier.

What a sad sight
it was this morning to see men and women in their sixties, seventies and
eighties gather with their cooking instruments, sausages, tea-leaf eggs and
other wares, people who are now being evicted by a government that no longer
wants them to operate their small businesses at Sun Moon Lake. Many of them
have been making a trade there over four, sometimes five decades. One, a woman
in her seventies, raised four children on her own after her husband died by
selling tea-leaf eggs at NT$10 apiece.

Sausage vendor, victim

For years the
vendors conducted their trade on government land in the Wenwu Temple area,
obtaining permits for about NT$200,000, which forced many of them to get a
guarantor and leasing a small spot for NT$1,700 a month. The first blow came in
the form of the 921 Earthquake of 1999, which hit Nantou County, where Sun Moon
Lake is located, pretty hard. The vendors rebuilt all they could, but the
assistance promised them by the government (both DPP and KMT) never materialized
and they were left to fend for themselves, eking out a living with small
stalls.

Now the
government wants them out, and will no longer issue them the permits to operate
there. For one thing, officials say, the ramshackle shacks and booths are
“unsightly” and must be replaced by something more esthetically pleasing to the
tourists — a growing number of them from China — eye. The plan is to evict the
small vendors by Oct. 31, raze the area, and build something more modern on top
of it. Unsurprisingly, the project will go to the highest bidder and will be —
yes, those three letters could very wall stand for abuse — a BOT (“build,
operate, transfer”). Gone will be the elderly vendors who over the decades gave
the place a local flavor. In their place will be much wealthier vendors who,
you can be assured, will be charged much more than NT$1,700 a month to rent the
space there. In fact, given what’s been going on in the area, it wouldn’t be
surprising if some of the bidders were Chinese.

Eighty-four-year-old vendor, victim

One solution
comes to mind. If the stalls are so unsightly, why not erect something more
modern and help the old vendors move back in, a “win-win” solution that would
please the esthetically demanding tourists while ensuring that vulnerable
vendors who have become part of the area’s charms can continue to make a
living? In fact, this approach was considered before, and then-premier and now
vice president Wu “I never broke a promise in 40 years of public service”
Den-yih (吳敦義) did vow do to just that for the
vendors. But big money and China got in the way, and compassion was once again
thrown out the window, along with society’s most vulnerable.

To add insult to
injury, the government is telling the vendors that following the 921 earthquake
the area has become too seismically unstable. The eviction is therefore for
their own safety, they are told. Apparently, however, the area is stable enough
for other people’s — wealthier people’s — structures to be built there.

The vendors are appealing
to the EY, but the chances that the project will be reversed are extremely
slim. If similar cases observed in recent months are any indication, the
vendors who refuse to leave will likely be fined by the government, which only and
unnecessarily adds to their plight.

As I’ve written before,
nobody opposes progress, modernity, and the beautification of one’s
environment, from cities to tourist attractions. But the march must be carried
out in the spirit of compassion and humanity, with the understanding that some
people, people who often are of little financial means, will be dislocated in
the process and therefore will need assistance. This government, sadly, only
gives them the boot. (Photos by the author)

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About Me

Taipei-based Senior Non-Resident Fellow at China Policy Institute @ U Nott, associate researcher at CEFC, ed.-in-chief Thinking Taiwan. M.A. War Studies Royal Military College of Canada, International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance from CIHC, CX-77 (peacekeeping) Lester Pearson Peacekeeping Centre, B.A. English lit. Deputy news editor and a reporter at the Taipei Times 2006-2013. Intelligence officer for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (2003-2005). I have been published in the Wall Street Journal, Christian Science Monitor, SCMP, National Interest, Lowy Interpreter, The Age, Jane’s Defence Weekly, Jane’s Intelligence Review, Jane’s Intelligence Weekly, Jane’s Navy International, Jane’s International Defence Review, the Ottawa Citizen, China Brief, CounterPunch, FrontLine Security, Strategic Vision, Asia Today International, The News Lens and The Diplomat. I was the 2012 recipient of the award for Outstanding Journalism from the Chen Wen-chen Memorial Foundation. I have appeared on BBC, CBC, CNN, VOA, RTI and Al-Jazeera. I use a Nikon D7100 camera. Follow me on Twitter @jmichaelcole1